SWEET SIXTEEN 16 JAMB

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of cornflakes. I looked away. But at that very moment, the teddy came alive in my heart. I couldn’t just leave it there, discarded and helpless. It was the first gift I got that was not from my parents and that I did not win as a prize from school.

And the person that gave me that first gift was Bobo. Even though I disliked him now, it would not be fair to punish the teddy for what Bobo did. I walked back to the bin and glanced around to see if anyone was looking. I did not see anybody.

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I hesitated for a while, trying to convince myself that it was just the teddy that I liked and not that I still cared for Bobo. Just then I heard footsteps approaching the gate. No more time to waste. I would save the teddy.

I was sure this had nothing to do with Bobo. I dragged the poor thing from underneath the pile of rubbish and ran back to my room. I chucked the teddy inside my wardrobe, promising myself I would give it a thorough wash on my return from prep. “Aliya, what are you thinking so much about?” Dad’s voice jolted me back to the moment. He had been talking all along. It must have taken him a while to realize that I was lost in my own thoughts. “No… nothing. Just thinking about what you were saying.” I stammered in response to his query.

I asked you a question earlier though?” “Yes, sir, you did. I am sorry, I must have… trailed off.” “That’s all right. So I said, let’s assume you had a boyfriend. Let us say… what was the name of that boy again? The one that gave you the teddy bear?” Oh my God! I knew what he was trying to say. I wished he wouldn’t do that. Did he know what I was thinking about only a few minutes ago? “I know his name reminded me of that thing; that drink… Bobo, yes, Bobo… yes that’s what you called him. Right?” I refused to confirm.

I was still wondering what on earth he was driving “Let’s assume Bobo was your boyfriend and you liked him a lot.” He paused and gave me that mischievous smile of his. “Daddy, Bobo was not my boyfriend. And I don’t like anybody, not in that way,”I protested vehemently. He laughed. And I wondered why he was laughing like that. “I know. I know. He is not your boyfriend.

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But let us just assume he was your boyfriend for the purpose of the question I am asking you. Bobo is your boyfriend and you like him a lot. Then one day, you see him with another girl, walking around the school? How would you feel?” “Well… to be honest, I think I would feel bad.” “You mean, you would be jealous?” “Yes, jealous, maybe.” It had actually happened before. Shortly before the end of the term, I saw Bobo once with another girl from our class. Morayo. They were walking to the refectory together. I felt so bad. Morayo wasn’t as smart as me. But she was slim and tall, with big eye balls that she had a way of rolling around and around so you couldn’t help but notice them. I could not eat. To make matters worse, Bobo saw me and he did not even act as if he did. When I got back to the hostel that night, I swore never to speak to either of them again for the rest of my life. I eventually slept off and I had a nightmare about Bobo and Morayo kissing each other.

Dad’s eyes were looking directly into mine. “You would be jealous, right? That’s exactly what I am getting at. A jealous mind is a distracted mind. Yet, distraction is what you cannot afford at this stage of your life. You now understand me?” I understood him very well; after what Bobo did to me. Even though it was almost a year before, I still felt bad each time I remembered him. Recently, one guy, Zak, passed a note to me as we were leaving the assembly. Even though he was not in my class, everybody knew him because he was in the school football team.

It was a very stupid note. It said, ‘Do you know any cardiologists, because my heart skips a beat every time I think of you.’ I am sure he must have copied it from somewhere. I just tore the note to shreds and threw it into the bin in one corner of the class. Zak was handsome and very popular too. Every girl would like to have him. But that’s exactly the reason I did not want to have anything to do with him.

You see, Aliya, there is time for everything. Relationships come with a lot of emotional issues that you may not be able to deal with at your age. And if you were a boy, I would tell you this same thing. You will have plenty time for all that. But at this stage of your life, you can hardly afford it.

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If you are to be the best, you have to stay focused. Have you heard the term, derailment before?” “Yes, you mentioned it in the letter,” I answered, trying to hide the turbulence going on in my mind. “Of course, I did. And what is your understanding of it?” I explained that it was a like a train moving in a particular direction. No matter how long the journey was, the train would eventually get to its destination as long as it stayed on the tracks. However, once it derailed, that would be the end of its journey. “You are right.

The point is that we human beings are also like the trains running on our tracks. Once we go off our tracks, we may never come back. The question is, why do people derail? Why does it happen so often that very intelligent people, people that everyone would agree were destined for greatness, just fall by the wayside? Do you know why?” I shook my head. “Gratification!” “Yes, I remember that one too.

You said if one does not learn to delay gratification, one may be derailed by gratification.” “Absolutely. I am so glad you remember that point,” he said, grinning broadly, his missing tooth, standing out by its very absence and looking like an unlit passage to somewhere. “People have desires for different gratifications. Continue reading-more loading

 

 

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